Lincoln brought a 3-1 record into Friday night's contest against a perennial titan in Union Mine out of El Dorado. On a night that neither team could pull their defenses together, the Union Mine Diamond Backs outran the Zebras to a 61 - 55 win.

Caleb Kettlehut takes the opening kickoff for an 80 yard TD

Lincoln had no answer for the Union Mine offensive line lead by 6'3" 280lbs Senior Center Joshua Middleton. Curiously, The Fighting Zebras coaches never sent a single linebacker over Middlton's gaps and put pressure on the offensive line to make any adjustments. The Union Mine line had easy pickings in the middle of the field with no pressure on the Diamondbacks QB Brody Pearman.

Eli Cunningham and Ryan Graham continued as the two-headed monster for the Zebras. Cunningham finishing the night with 19 carries for 118 yards and 1 touchdowns, while also adding 3 receptions for 90 yards and a TD. Cunningham has 14 total TD's in 5 games on the season.

Eli Cunningham continues to rumble through the season scoring one of his 14 total TD's in 5 games

Ryan Graham also received 19 carries and finished with 110 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also caught 2 passes for 62 yards..

With both teams trading score it was well known that the team that makes the big stop was going to win the game. Union Mine was able to pull off the stop on 4th down as Eli Garcia threw a perfect pass into the end zone. Equally, a perfectly defensed knock down by the Union Mine defender turned the ball over to the Diamond Backs. Union Mine would score and go up 61 - 55.

The Fighting Zebras would battle at the end of the game, but a very controversial pass interference call against Lincoln would take the wind out of their sales and hopes to pull out the win. As the pass was lofted from Eli Garcia the Union Mine defender ran through the Zebras player not turning to the ball. The Lincoln receiver tried to reach out to the ball and his arms went around the defender who was running into him. An easy pass interference call was expected, but when it came out as an offensive pass interference the Lincoln sidelines were in shock.

One last throw to PJ Manly fell incomplete to end the Zebras chance.

Stat of note: Eli Garcia passed for his 2nd 300 yard + game of the season with 304 throwing 3 TD passes and 0 interceptions for a 130.9 passer rating.